Raila’s legacy of forging national unity creditable

It is exactly a year since veteran opposition leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga died. A consummate fighter for democracy and human rights, his permanent exit from the national political stage has left the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), the solid party he founded two decades ago and robustly led, in disarray.

As the next General Election scheduled for August 10 next year approaches, his name will be missing from the presidential ballot paper after he unsuccessfully vied several times.

Raila spent four decades fighting for the fundamental freedoms that Kenyans are enjoying today. He fought the single-party dictatorship and campaigned for the freedoms of expression and association, and judicial fairness.

He later became a key driver in the push that culminated in the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution. The defining pillar of Raila’s legacy in national politics was his willingness to step back from the brink and reconcile with his fiercest opponents, reshaping the nation's history. ODM has now partnered with President William Ruto’s UDA party in their broad-based government. After the highly contested 1997 presidential vote, Raila chose to cooperate with then President Daniel arap Moi, who had detained him without trial for nearly a decade. After his controversial 2007 presidential election defeat, he became part of the Grand Coalition that rallied national unity. Post-election violence had claimed nearly 1,500 lives and had 600,000 evicted from their farms and homes. Raila then agreed to serve as the Prime Minister under President Mwai Kibaki.

Following the polarised 2017 elections, Raila shook hands with President Uhuru Kenyatta, stunning friend and foe. But this cooled the national political temperatures.

In 2024, he joined his 2022 election rival, President Ruto, in a broad-based government. This followed severe youth-led anti-government protests in which 60 people died, and several hundred were seriously injured. While some critics denounced him as opportunistic, history will remember him as a political bridge-builder who strongly believed the country was far more important than a single individual.

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